Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Redaxo CMS 5.2 has a cross-site request forgery issue in its user-management area. If an administrator is tricked into visiting a malicious page while logged in, an attacker may cause an unintended administrative account to be created. This can lead to unauthorized CMS control, but the sources do not show confirmed active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat as a moderate priority if Redaxo CMS 5.2 is present. The main business risk is unauthorized CMS administration, which could enable content changes, account abuse, or further compromise. Prioritize validation and vendor-guided remediation over emergency response unless suspicious accounts or logs are found.
Technical view
CVE-2016-20053 is CWE-352 affecting Redaxo CMS 5.2. Public descriptions state the vulnerable users endpoint can accept forged requests that create administrator accounts when an authenticated administrator is induced to visit attacker-controlled content. CVSS v4.0 is 6.9. The public bundle includes an ExploitDB reference, but no KEV listing or vendor fix detail is provided.
Likely exposure
Exposure is limited to organizations still running Redaxo CMS 5.2, especially internet-accessible admin panels or administrators browsing while authenticated. Later or earlier versions are not identified as affected in the provided sources.
Exploitation context
The source bundle includes a public ExploitDB entry, indicating public exploit knowledge. However, CISA KEV is false and no cited source confirms active exploitation. Successful abuse depends on an authenticated administrator being induced to interact with malicious content while logged in.
Researcher notes
Evidence is based on the CVE record, VulnCheck advisory, and ExploitDB reference. The sources identify Redaxo CMS 5.2 only. No official patch version, KEV status, or confirmed exploitation is provided. Avoid assuming broader version impact without vendor confirmation.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory Redaxo CMS instances and identify any running version 5.2.
- Check Redaxo vendor guidance for fixed versions or official remediation.
- Limit access to CMS administration interfaces to trusted networks or VPN.
- Require administrators to log out after administrative sessions.
- Review user accounts and remove unauthorized administrators.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed Redaxo CMS version on each instance.
- Review CMS administrator account creation history for unknown users.
- Check web and application logs for suspicious user-management requests.
- Verify admin interface access controls are enforced.
- Document whether vendor guidance or upgrade path has been applied.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-352: User-session and phishing behavior lookup
Client-side and session-facing weaknesses should be reviewed alongside initial-access and user-execution behaviors. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2016-20053 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 6.9 (4.0)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L——Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 4.0 score
6.9MediumVector: CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:L/VA:N/SC:L/SI:L/SA:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- ExploitDB-40708CVE reference · exploit
- VulnCheck Advisory: Redaxo CMS 5.2 Cross-Site Request Forgery via users endpointCVE reference · third-party-advisory
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)
Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.